Austria's new school year begins with new rules

New rules took effect with the start of the school year in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. Girls under 14 at public and private schools are prohibited from wearing head coverings that conceal the head according to Islamic traditions. Exceptions apply to events outside school and home education.

If a pupil does not remove the headscarf after a teacher asks, the school principal must speak with her and her parents. Further violations involve the education directorate and can lead to administrative proceedings. Fines range from €150 to €800 and may be imposed repeatedly. The Constitutional Court struck down a similar rule for primary schools in 2020; the Islamic Religious Community in Austria said it would also challenge the new law.

Pupils suspended for at least four days must now receive a compulsory reintegration plan. It provides for up to ten hours of psychosocial measures or projects and up to ten hours of teaching per week. School social workers, psychologists and, where needed, external organizations are involved.

Schools are no longer automatically required to create a separate German-language class or group when they have at least eight pupils with special status. Slightly more than half of schools are moving to their own models for learning German in the regular classroom. A pupil with positive marks in all subjects may advance even with a MIKA-D result of “deficient” if the class or school conference gives a positive forecast. A result of “insufficient” still means repeating the year.

A “Chancenbonus” will give about 800 additional full-time positions to 400 primary and lower secondary schools with greater support needs. Schools decide whether to use the resources for teachers, psychologists, social workers or other specialists. From year nine, pupils at risk of leaving school must take part in discussions about the reasons and possible further education paths.

Schools with at least 15 classes may involve up to four teachers in administrative and educational coordination with reduced teaching duties; smaller schools will start the model in 2027. In October, school-level data will also be published for the first time, with results compared while accounting for the composition of the student body.